Turning
by Penni Lane
Summary: Was it really "A Dark Turn?"


Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Irina, Jack, Sydney, or any of the other characters  
created by JJ Abrams. I'm just writing this for fun. Get a life.  
Title: Turning  
Author: Penni Lane  
Rating: R  
Summary: Was it really "A Dark Turn?"  
Category: Drama/Romance  
Spoilers: "A Dark Turn"  
  
Author's Notes: Many, many, thanks to rhymezone.com. I'm never at a loss for words!  
AND "PLOT-GIRL:" I REFUSE TO TITLE THIS STORY "MAMA HARI'S SPY SEX SPECTACULAR."  
  
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He finishes bandaging my shoulder, where the tracking device had been removed.  
I turn to look at him after a brief exchange of words and our eyes meet. For the  
first time since I turned myself in to the Central Intelligence Agency, he's not  
hiding what he feels. I can read the raw emotion in his eyes as easily as I could  
when we were married all those years ago. I'm surprised, to say the least. I knew  
that he still wanted me. Since I've been helping the CIA, he's done nothing but  
insist that I have a secret agenda. That I can't be trusted. That he wants me dead.  
I've known it was just a facade, but for him to reveal that to me is truly something  
amazing.  
  
I'm not sure which one of us moved in first, but after staring hungrily into eachother's  
eyes for what seemed an eternity, our lips met in a ardent kiss. As if acting on reflex,  
our arms found their way around eachother. His hand came to rest at the base of my neck,  
massaging lightly and running his fingers through my hair. The kiss deepened. We fell  
back together onto the hotel bed. Almost of their own accord, my hands moved around to  
his chest and began to unbutton his shirt. I feel his hands, strong and gentle as  
they were when we were married, feel their way down my sides to my hips and over my  
stomach. He breaks the kiss, and I'm about to protest when he lowers his head to my  
neck, finding the same spot that drove me crazy thirty years ago. I gasp and a low  
moan escapes my mouth. I can feel him smile against my skin and I bring a hand  
to stroke his hair.  
  
"Don't stop.. please."  
  
He does stop, momentarily, and I know he's teasing. He pulls back to shrug out  
of the wrinkling shirt and I let my eyes drift over his chest and shoulders. I feel  
his eyes on me and I look to meet his gaze.  
  
"This can't change anything."  
  
"I know." I sit up and kiss him, then pull him back down onto the bed. No more words,  
save the cries of each other's names, are spoken for hours.  
  
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Morning comes all too soon. My internal clock wakes me just as the first rays of sun  
sneak into the room between the curtains. I turn in Jack's arms, intending to watch him  
sleep, and am surprised, once again, to see him already awake and watching me. I  
smile widely and drop a kiss on his mouth.  
  
"Good morning." I greet with a smile.  
  
He regards me with somewhat suspicious eyes. I sigh.  
  
"You're not coming back, are you?"  
  
For once, I decide to be honest. "I wasn't planning on it, Jack... but I'm starting  
to reconsider."  
  
"I saw you switch the manuscript. On the way back."  
  
It's my turn to look suspicious. "And you said nothing?"  
  
"One thing you might not know about me is that I will do anything, risk anything, to  
get rid of Arvin Sloane."  
  
"I did know that, Jack. Tell me the rest."  
  
He shifts uneasily under my scrutiny.  
  
"I believed that you had a plan. I guess I was wrong."  
  
"No... not wrong. I was going to use the manuscript to bait Sloane. But I know him,  
Jack. He won't make a bid unless he's seen the actual merchandise. I want that man  
dead, Jack. And not because he beat me to some priceless artifact. I want him dead  
for what he did to Daniel Hecht. For what he did to our daughter."  
  
"If you kill him, you'll just add to the list of charges against you."  
  
"I know. That's why I need your help."  
  
"Is that what last night was about?"  
  
"No! Of course not."  
  
He nods slightly. "Tell me the plan."  
  
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A few hours later, I'm standing outside a van. The door slides open and Arvin Sloane  
grins at me. He greets me by my first name, but I only pretend to hear the rest of  
his words. Irina - the same name Jack called out last night. Not any of the names  
he's called me in anger recently. Not Laura. Irina. I sit next to the man I despise  
more than any other, and I smile. I remember the previous night. It wasn't out of  
frustration or some spontaneous simple lust. He called me Irina. It was now easy for  
me to see what I had suspected all along - that he was still in love with his wife.  
What I hadn't expected was for him to fall in love with the real me, the person who  
had hidden under the name "Laura Bristow." It was impossible now, as it had been then,  
for me not to love him in return.  
  
It had felt so natural that morning to wake up in his arms. We'd made love more than  
once the night before - an amazing feat for a couple of our age. I smile in the van  
as my hand finds the spot on my neck on which he lavished so much attention. I can't  
wait to finish this job. With Arvin Sloane gone, my daughter can have her normal life.  
Jack can have something resembling one. I'll go back to my glass walls, but it would  
be worth it to see him every day. To see my daughter every so often. I lean back,  
getting comfortable in my seat, and glance out the window. A cliche forms in the  
back of my mind. This is the road to the future.  
  
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Feedback to mrsspooky_dks@yahoo.com  
  
This was intended to be a quick, one part, piece, but it could develop into something  
longer! 


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